A new species of Nanorana Günther, 1896 (Anura, Dicroglossidae) from Yunnan, China

Abstract

A new species of Nanorana Günther, 1896 is described from Yunnan Province, China, based on morphological and molecular evidence. Morphologically, Nanorana xuelinensis sp. nov. is distinguished from its congeners by a combination of the following diagnostic characters: body size large; adult males with keratinized spines on chest, belly, lateral body, posterior dorsum, buttocks, outer side of the fore limbs, the inner metacarpal tubercle, fingers I and II, and upper eyelids; no spines on the inner side of the lower and upper arm; forelimbs strongly hypertrophied in adult males; anterior dorsum skin smooth; dorsolateral folds absent; finger I longer than finger II; webbing deeply incurved between tips of toes; present outer metacarpal tubercle and absent outer metatarsal tubercle. The new species is separated from all other congeners by uncorrected genetic distances ranging from 5.2% to 7.3% based on mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene and ranging from 3.9% to 7.6% based on mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene.